


A Family Sticks Together Like Vel-Crow

by MrMich



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Allen's opinion of Kanda and Lavi are that they're the stinky cousins tho, Fluff, Gen, Zookeeper AU, all of them are zookeepers and they all love each other, if you can't be family when you're shoveling shit when can you be?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 15:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20762873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrMich/pseuds/MrMich
Summary: Allen tugged his uniform straight and made a face as he headed out to one of the zoo’s many outdoor aviaries. Even if everyone had to wear it, it was a universal truth that no one looked good in khaki. It was a fact of life. The sky was blue, Hevlaska was the most unsettling boss to ever exist, and no one could pull off khakis.The only upside was that this also meant that Kanda was just as undignified as everyone else when wearing the zoo's uniform, and Lavi and Allen didn't let him forget it.





	A Family Sticks Together Like Vel-Crow

**Author's Note:**

> a gift fic for Mrukrow from the dgm discord!

Allen neatly tied his hair back, the ends of the ribbon brushing against the nape of his neck. He'd have to tuck them in, or else the ribbon would get plucked from his hair by a curious beak.

He tugged his uniform straight and made a face as he headed out to one of the zoo’s many outdoor aviaries. Even if everyone had to wear it, it was a universal truth that no one looked good in khaki. It was a fact of life. The sky was blue, Hevlaska was the most unsettling boss to ever exist, and no one could pull off khakis.

The only upside was that this also meant that Kanda was just as undignified as everyone else when wearing the zoo's uniform, and Lavi and Allen didn't let him forget it. 

Just as Allen reached the first door into one of their smallest aviaries, he heard the jingle of Lenalee’s keys as she came up behind him. They made a dull little clink as the plastic alligator keychain that Kanda had given her for her birthday the year before knocked against all the keys she had. It always made it easy for Allen to identify her. 

“Hey, Allen! Did you just get off your break?”

Allen smiled and tilted his nearly empty coffee cup at her, both in greeting and in answer to her question.

“I did. I suppose you’re heading there yourself? I left Lavi there if you’d like to catch up with him.” Allen chugged the last bit of his coffee and threw it into a nearby bin. “He was mumbling something about that old goat of his though, so you might not be able to get much else out of him.”

“Is Bookman giving him trouble again?”

“It’s _ Bookman _. Of course he is.”

Lenalee giggled. “I still can’t believe he named one of his goats after his dad.”

Allen snorted. “Did Lavi ever tell you that when it came time to name the babies, he looked for the most stubborn one to name Bookman? I’m surprised Bookman–the human one–didn’t kill him when he found out!”

At this point, a beautiful American crow with sleek black feathers flew over to perch on a branch that butted up against the wire mesh of the aviary and had seemingly taken offense at how long Allen was just standing there, talking to Lenalee. He screeched. 

Loudly, and with great prejudice.

Allen rolled his eyes. “It seems like I’m taking too long for his highness Timcanpy’s liking. I better get back to work–he and I have a demonstration today, so I have to make sure he’ll be on his best behavior.” He turned to the other crow in the enclosure and cooed. “Ur-Canpy wouldn’t treat me like this. Would you, Ur-Canpy?”

Ur-Canpy let out a single caw and hopped onto a branch nearer to Allen. Timcanpy tilted his head at Ur-Canpy and clacked his beak. 

“Oh! That’ll be fun.” Lenalee turned to face the crows. “Good morning, Tim, Ur. Good luck on the demonstration today, and please treat our guests as well as you always do, Tim!” She turned back to Allen. “I’ve got to head out anyway, Buttercup is getting a visit from the vet today, and Miranda says it’s always easier if I’m there with her.”

“Ah, yes, that great big beast of yours,” Allen said fondly. “I still think that Buttercup is an ill fitting name for an alligator, Lenalee. At this point I wonder if Lavi has a better sense of naming than you do.”

“Allen Walker, you know full well that my Buttercup is a _ lady _ and her name fits her far better than some of your own choices.” 

Allen waved a hand dismissively. “Yes, yes. If we stay on this track we’ll be standing here until we get old and you go grey, bringing up all the terrible names we’ve given. At least we’re not as bad as–” 

“–Komui,” they said together.

Lenalee made a face. “Komlin really is a terrible name for a jaguar, I don’t know why Tiedoll ever thought that letting Komui name one of his cats was a good idea.” 

“That’s just the way Tiedoll is, though, unfortunately. He’s someone who’s too good for any of the rest of us assholes who work in this zoo.” Allen laughed and waved her away. “Alright, I really do have to get back to work.” 

“See you later, Allen!” She waved a quick goodbye and continued on her way. Allen drained the last of his coffee, tossing it into a nearby bin.

He picked up the small bin of food he’d set down while talking to Lenalee and turned back to the aviary, unlocking the door and stepping in. As soon as he got in, he closed and locked the door behind him. It wasn’t really necessary at this point, not with Tim and Ur, who had both pretty firmly adopted Allen, but it was good to keep the habit. Not all the birds in the zoo had such an attachment. Even some of those who did would still fly off if they got out. 

Allen unlocked the inner door. Tim jumped to him immediately. He settled on Allen’s shoulder, cawing and nibbling on the shell of his ear. 

Allen stroked his feathers and let Tim nuzzle his beak against his face. He stepped fully inside the aviary and closed the door behind him. 

“We’ve got a demonstration at the children’s zoo today, so you better be on your best behavior, Tim. I’m not going to have a repeat of the 2016 incident on my hands, am I?”

The Incident of 2016 was an unmitigated disaster that no one spoke about within earshot of Allen. It was a whole deal. Cross was there. 

Luckily, all the damage was blamed on Cross (it was pretty much only his fault anyway), and Allen gleefully got to ban his foster father from ever stepping foot in the zoo ever again. It was quite possibly the happiest day of his life.

Timcanpy opened his beak and made a clicking sound into Allen’s ear, which he took as an agreement to behave, and Ur-Canpy jumped onto the branch just above Allen and threaded his beak through Allen’s hair before nuzzling his head against Allen’s. 

Allen grabbed at the bucket of food that Tim had politely not decimated the second it was in sight (and Allen would have to give him and extra couple of peanuts for that. Tim wasn’t always willing to do things Allen’s way, but it meant that he was deserving of something extra for good behavior when he did). Ur-Canpy, who was usually more well behaved than Tim – except for the random headbut here and there – fluttered over to a branch on the other side of the aviary and waited for Allen to spread their food around their enclosure. 

Allen checked his watch and hurried to finish up, gave each crow a quick scratch, and went on his way to attend to all his other birds. He still had a lot to do today, and he was already behind schedule.  
  
  
  
  
  


A few hours later, Allen’s phone beeped out a reminder for the demonstration he had with Tim. He frowned. He wouldn’t be able to get to hide some of the enrichment toys he had ready for the macaws before the demonstration started. He sighed, packed away the box he’d just hefted up, and nestled it into a corner in the Birds Department office. 

He hurried off towards the crow aviary, keys jangling on his belt with every step. 

Unlocking the doors to the aviary, Allen greeted his two crows with a smile. “Hey Ur, Tim. It’s time for that demonstration,” he said. 

He held out his arm and Tim flew down from his perch. He opened his beak to caw loudly at Allen, but Allen was prepared for this and held out a peanut for him. Tim took the tribute instead of shouting in Allen’s face. Allen ruefully wondered if it really him who had been trained by Tim, instead of the other way around. 

They left the crow’s aviary. Allen dutifully toted Timcanpy around on his arm as they traveled to the open field that they performed demonstrations in, and Tim basked in the attention the two of them got on their way. There was an incredible number of kids at the zoo, just as there was every day, and just about all of them stopped to stare or grabbed their parents’ clothes to call attention to the uncaged bird. 

Allen smiled. Children were really simple creatures, and far more endearing than many people thought them to be. There was just _ something _ about working in a zoo and seeing the wide eyed wonder in their faces! 

As they arrived at the field, Allen was glad to see that there’d been some organization involved in getting his audience seated. Allen’s eyes panned over the crowd, and he quickly picked up the reason why the audience was actually orderly, little kids sitting tucked in the front and the adults standing in the back, rather than just being the usual mass of people. 

Kanda scowled out from near the back as they made eye contact and Allen rolled his eyes. He sent a brief nod of thanks towards Kanda. 

And then he took to the center of the field, and began to talk.

He talked about Tim in particular, about hooded crows in general, and thanked God as Tim cooperated enough to lift out a wing as an example of a crow’s wing shape. 

Then came the part that people were usually most interested in. 

Allen raised his hand and Timcanpy launched off, wings spread wide as he went soaring over the front row of seated kids, who all gasped in delight. 

Allen smiled. Tim was a just a hooded crow, and while uncommon in England were a fairly typical sight in several other European countries. Most people didn’t come to the zoo to see a common crow, but whenever they did a demonstration together, everyone always saw the majesty in Timcanpy. 

And really, it was_ this _ that was what brought Allen to zookeeping, what brought him to his birds.

Watching Tim wheel over the crowds, pulling low over their heads before returning to him, Allen basked in the moment. He gladly watched as the crow preened and showed off, watched as parents pointed up at Timcanpy for the benefit of their awestruck kids, watched as more and more people stopped by on the outskirts of the demonstration as he talked about Tim’s flight patterns and habits as a hooded crow. He talked about what Tim ate (which, like Allen, was pretty much everything), what Tim liked to play with, hunting patterns for crows, anything he could tell the crowd about. 

Finally, Allen called Timcanpy back to his arm. 

He chuckled as some of the kids groaned at the realization that the demonstration was coming to an end, but Timcanpy played into it and stretched his wings out, beating the air once, twice, for show. Allen scratched the base of his beak, one of the signals that they’d developed between them over the years that meant that Tim really did have to behave. Tim settled down, tucking his body against Allen’s head, wings folded. 

Allen thanked the crowd and told Tim to say goodbye. The audience dispersed, leaving in small groups until there were only the last of the stragglers left. Allen turned to look at Timcanpy with a fond smile. 

“Nice job, Tim. Thank you for behaving perfectly for me today.” He fed the crow a few peanuts that he kept in his pocket, which were happily devoured. 

Tim ran his beak through Allen’s hair, one of the ways he enjoyed showing affection. Years together had taught Allen to always watch out for his ears while Tim preened him though. Timcanpy had gotten into a biting mood on more than one occasion as he was showing Allen affection. 

Allen made his back to the crow’s aviary, stopping on the way to chat as he passed by Johnny, who was excited to tell him about one of the zoo’s giraffes being pregnant, before hurrying on his way. As one of the zoo’s veterinarians, Johnny was constantly busy, so Allen was grateful to be able to chat with him in a spare moment of his time. 

He continued down the zoo’s shaded path, past the main bird house, past their vulture’s aviary — Tim took a moment to caw mockingly at her from Allen’s shoulder as she turned to peer at them from her perch on a rocky outcropping. Allen hurried his pace. It wouldn’t do to let his birds pick fights with each other, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop Timcanpy from being a right jerk when he wanted to be. 

They finally got back to Tim’s own aviary. Ur-Canpy yelled out a throaty greeting as they approached, which Timcanpy answered in kind as Allen unlocked the doors. 

“There you go, Tim. Home again,” he said to the crow still perched on his shoulder. 

Tim hopped from one foot to the other and ran his beak through Allen’s hair again. 

“What’s this? You’re not usually this affectionate, Tim.”

Tim gave a soft rattling call. Then, quick as a flash, he reached his beak towards the base of Allen’s ponytail and gave a sharp tug, coming free with a loose ribbon and a slight muffled cry of triumph. 

“Tim!” 

Allen sighed. His hair was now loose around his shoulders and slipping into the edge of his vision. He wouldn’t be getting his ribbon back, that was for sure. Tim, unfortunately, could play a long game of keep away and still win easily. Doubly so, if Ur-Canpy helped.

“Tim, you wretched beast,” Allen said, huffing good naturedly. He sighed. “I suppose some of that was on me though. I should know better than to trust you when you’re being overly affectionate.” 

He brushed his hair out of his eyes and made a face. 

He’d have to ask Kanda for a hair tie later. 

Kanda was the only one of the staff that kept an abundance of hair ties, probably because everyone knew they could just steal them from him. Normally, Allen would just sneak one, but Kanda had a freaky sixth sense for when Allen was around or if he was in Kanda’s space, so it was just easier for Allen to head that off _ that _ confrontation from the start and suck up his pride to ask to borrow a hair tie. 

He rolled his eyes at Timcanpy, who was prancing around, ribbon clenched tightly in his beak as some sort of victory flag. 

“Spoiled brat.” Allen smiled fondly despite his words. “I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

Tim cawed mockingly at Allen.

Allen turned his eyes towards the sky in exasperation despite the slight smile that played on his lips. Tim might be a brat (along with several of his other birds, if he was being honest) but he really wouldn’t have it any other way. Working at the zoo was the best decision he’d ever made in his life, for more reasons that even just the animals here. 

Here, he had a family, with all the zookeepers, the vets, the nutritionists, his birds. It was a family he’d built himself, full of both people and animals.

And he was totally including Kanda and Lavi in the animals category.

**Author's Note:**

> I will not apologize for the atrocious pun of a title


End file.
